Woodgreen and Pets at Home offering Lifelines to pets in need
An ongoing partnership between Woodgreen Pets Charity and Pets at Home’s Huntingdon store is supporting vulnerable pets in times of crisis. Through multiple fundraising campaigns and their VIP Lifelines scheme, Pets at Home has donated £86,000 to Woodgreen since 2016 – helping the charity to be there for even more pets and owners.
Almost half of Pets at Home’s donations to Woodgreen have been in the form of VIP Lifelines vouchers. When shoppers sign up to the retailer’s loyalty scheme, they can turn points into pounds for an animal charity of their choice. Woodgreen uses these vouchers towards food, toys and equipment for not only the thousands of dogs, cats and small pets that come into their care each year, but also for pets whose owners are struggling to care for them – like Felix the cat.
When Felix suddenly fell ill with breathing difficulties earlier this year, he was rushed to the vet. Sadly, he was diagnosed with a heart condition and needed half a pint of fluid to be drained from him. Felix’s owner, a pensioner, could not afford the costs and turned to Woodgreen for help. The charity stepped in and contributed towards the initial expense of the veterinary treatment, as well as arranging a delivery of essential supplies from Pets at Home, using VIP Lifelines vouchers, to alleviate some of the owner’s outgoings.
They said: “I couldn’t believe the amount, quality and variety of the food you gave me. Felix loves his pouches and I cannot thank you enough for your help. It has helped me enormously.”
Woodgreen’s Outreach team has directly supported 1,110 pets like Felix since January, with services tailored to each pet’s situation. The charity has provided 43 grants towards urgent veterinary treatment, 47 neutering vouchers, 626 donations of pet supplies and hundreds of one-to-one consultations to owners in need of help caring for their pets. With no government funding, none of this would be possible without the generosity of supporters like Pets at Home.
Jo Knight, from Woodgreen’s Outreach team, said: “The VIP Lifelines vouchers are invaluable to our work and allow us to give that extra support and ease the pressure for owners who are going through financial hardship. No-one should choose between feeding themselves and feeding their pets.”
To join Pets at Homes’ VIP Club, and turn your loyalty points into pounds to support Woodgreen at no cost to you, visit vip.petsathome.com.
To find out more about supporting Woodgreen through a corporate partnership, please get in touch with our friendly team.